


Her little duckling

by fromovertown



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Backstory, Childhood, Found Family, Gen, mama puffy, puffy and her two misfit sons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromovertown/pseuds/fromovertown
Summary: Before Dream was hungry for control, he was hungry for apple pie.
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i've had this idea for a while so i really want to write it. This is kinda a backstory for dream (and punz too) with Puffy raising them. This is like opposite mommy issues if you know what i mean. also the only reason graphic depictions of violence is there is because of certain gore parts. its not a lot tho i swear.
> 
> enjoy!

The air wreaked with death. Puffy held her nose as she walked closer to the crash sight. It was clear that whatever happened here wasn’t a normal ship wreck. Parts of the boat were burned to the point of disintegration. Blood splattered on the sail and floor. 

When Puffy finally released her nose, the irony smell of that blood filled her lungs. She grimaced and called out, “Is anyone here!?”.

There was no response. 

“Hello?!”

Nothing. 

Puffy sighed and began to look around the wreck. Plenty of people crashed their boats and ships into this side of the peninsula, it was a pretty hazardous part. Puffy had made it her job to help the survivors of these crashes and get them to the nearby fishing village safely. 

But Puffy had never seen anything like this. 

There were clearly dead bodies, but they barely looked human anymore. They were melted like a burnt marshmallow falling off a stick at a campfire. Their eyes oozing out of their sockets, faces sloping down to one side before completely falling off the skull. 

Puffy had to look away. Whoever had done this was a monster. 

As Puffy continued to walk through the wreckage, she swore she heard someone sniffle. Puffy turned her head quickly towards the noise. 

Maybe this hadn’t been completely hopeless after all. 

The noise had come from somewhere behind two big crates. Puffy quickly pushed them aside to reveal a small boy lying face up on the sand. He had unkempt dirty blonde hair and held a pale freckled hand over a gash on his nose. He was only wearing a big white T-shirt but it was stained with blood, presumably from his nose. The boy looked up at Puffy with big green eyes. 

“Oh my god! Okay, here let me just…”, she pulled out her handkerchief and went to clean the boy's nose but he flinched away.  
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you”, Puffy said her most calming voice. The boys brow furrowed but he removed his hand from his nose to let her look at it. 

“Alright”, it was certainly a gash, right on the bridge of his nose. Puffy could probably stitch it back up at her house. 

“Okay, I’m going to take you up to my house to get you fixed up but I’m going to need you to hold this to your nose”, she said and handed the boy the cloth. He pressed it against his nose but he looked almost annoyed. Like he was wasting time by simply treating a wound. 

“Take my hand and keep your head down, alright?”, Puffy reached her hand out to the boy. He stared at it for a few seconds before taking it begrudgingly. Puffy led the two of them out of the wreck and hoped the boy had listened to her when she said to look down. Puffy didn’t want him to see what had happened to people that could have very well have been his family. 

It was a long walk up to Puffy’s cottage. Through the pine trees and fog that smelled like ice in autumn. It was still dark but that fog painted the sky a hazy dark blue. Once they finally made it, Puffy brought him to her kitchen where the boy sat on the counter. 

She grabbed her med-kit from the cabinet and walked over to him. 

“Can you move your hand for me?”, she asked and the boy slowly pulled the cloth away to reveal the gash. 

“Okay, drink this. it will help the process”, Puffy said, giving him a healing potion. He sniffed at it a little before sipping all of it down. 

“Look up at me. There we go. This might hurt just a tad”, she said before threading a needle and holding the boys face up. He closed his eyes tightly as Puffy poked the needle through the skin at one end of the cut. She pulled the needle all the way through and then pulled it into the other side. The boy bit his lip in pain as Puffy continued the motion until the entirety of the gash was sewn up. 

Puffy cut the thread. “All better, see?”  
The boy nodded and felt the stitches with a small hand. Puffy stared at him. 

“You’re probably tired. You can sleep with me in my bed tonight. We’ll figure everything else out in the morning”, Puffy said and smiled softly. The boy just stared at the floor and nodded. 

“What’s your name?”

He didn’t look up. He just stayed silent. 

“Okay, well you can tell me later. Join me when you’re ready”, she said and began to walk towards the bedroom.

“..Dream”

Puffy turned back to look at the boy. “What?”

The boy was still staring at the floor. Then, again he spoke for the first time since Puffy had found him. “...My name is Dream”.

Puffy smiled and said, “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Dream. My name is Puffy”.

Dream looked up at her with those big green eyes again. He pointed at her.  
“Like your hair”.

Puffy stared at him a little before laughing and saying, “Yes, just like my hair”.

Dream opened his eyes to a wooden ceiling. A warm sunlight was shining in through a window to his left. He sat up and looked around. Puffy had left Dream in the bed room all alone. She trusted him in her own room. Surprising. 

Dream slipped out of the bed and crept over to the door. He slowly opened it. The bedroom led straight to the kitchen. Puffy was cooking something at the furnace. 

And it smelled really good. 

He walked over and leaned against the counter next to her. 

Puffy looked down at him and smiled that warm smile Dream was starting to get used to, even though he had meant her less than 24 hours ago.  
“Hello there! I’m making porridge if you’d like some”.

Dream nodded. 

She poured the sticky white sludge into two wooden bowls and walked over to place them on opposite ends of the kitchen table. Dream sat down and let the warm sweet smell fill his lungs. That’s when he realized how hungry he was. He quickly picked up the bowel and began to drink down the mush. It flowed down his throat and filled his stomach with a warm fuzzy feeling. 

“You’re certainly hungry”, Puffy said. Dream put the bowl down, empty. 

“Could I have seconds?”, he asked sheepishly. 

“Of course”.

After about two more bowls of the porridge, Dream was finally full. 

Puffy folded her hands in her lap. “So Dream, how old are you?”.

“Nine or ten I think”

“You don’t know?”

Dream shook his head. 

Puffy hummed. “Do you..know what happened?”, she seemed hesitant to ask.

Dream just stared at the table. 

“Do you know where your family is?”

He played with a string on his shirt. 

“Well, do you have anyone you could stay with?”

Dream shook his head again. 

Puffy sighed, “I suppose you can stay with me for now. I have the room”.

Dream looked up at that. “Really?”. Puffy smiled that smile, “Of course.”

Puffy slung a cloth bag over her shoulder. She felt the shadow behind her and turned to look back at Dream still following her silently. She had told him to stay at the cottage but he had followed her down to the village, never straying too far. Like a duckling. 

It had been two days since Puffy had found Dream on the beach. They got him some proper clothes and shoes and now he was starting to look like a proper young boy. Besides the huge scar along his face. But plenty of people had scars, Puffy had a few of her own from her adventures at sea. It was just unusual for a little kid to have them.  
Puffy noticed the stares Dream got. And she knew he noticed them as well. He seemed self conscious of his face.

“You keep following me like a little duckling”, Puffy chuckled. 

“You want to get some pies?”. Dream’s big green eyes lit up and he nodded. Puffy handed him four emerald coins and pointed him towards the bakery. She watched from a far as he inspected the pies behind the glass in awe. 

“Captain Puffy!”

Puffy turned towards the voice to see a large dark demon walking towards her. 

“Bad!”, she smiled up at the giant demon. “How are you?”. BadBoyHalo crouched down to speak to her, “I’m good. Who’s the little boy following you?”.  
“His name is Dream. I found him alone at a shipwreck. I’m taking care of him until we find his family”.

Bad tilted his head, “His family wasn’t in the wreck?”. 

Puffy bit her lip, “I’m not sure. It wasn’t a very pretty sight….there weren’t...Dream was the only survivor.”

Bad hummed, “I see, well how old is he? Maybe him and Sap would get along?”.  
“He says he’s either nine or ten but he must be at least ten. maybe eleven.”, Puffy said looking over at Dream showing a pie to the worker at the bakery. “But yes! I’m sure they’d get along”.

“Great! Well, I’ll see you soon then. Don’t wear yourself out. Kids are tough!”, Bad said and stood up to his full height, completely dwarfing Puffy. 

“I’m aware. Bye Bad”, Puffy waved as he walked off. 

“Who was that?”, a voice behind her asked. She turned to Dream, who was already tearing pieces off an apple pie. 

“My friend, he has a boy around your age if you’d like to meet”, Puffy suggested. Dream just shrugged and bit off a piece of pie. 

“Well let’s head back up, little duckling”. 

“Okay Puffy”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream finds a sword and a lava boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter

The wood bed crate scraped against the stone floor of the cottage as Puffy pushed it to the far corner of the guest room. She stood back up and looked around the room she was in. The guest room consisted of a small window looking into the pine forest that surrounded the cottage, a wood table in the corner that held a vase filled with corn flowers, a woven carpet in the center, a chest, and two matching bed crates on either side.

And a Dream standing in the doorway with a bed mat he dragged from behind the house. 

“Hand me that and we’ll make your bed all nice and ready”, Puffy held her hands out and Dream handed her the rolled up mat. She unrolled it on to the one crate and got out the knit blanket from the chest.

“Alright! Your new bedroom is complete!”, Puffy motioned to the room around them. 

Dream plopped himself down on the bed and asked, “Why is there another bed?”.

“Oh, I have a friend that stays with me during the colder months. He’ll probably come in a few weeks”.

Dream nodded and stood back up, walking towards the crate. He stopped before opening it. “Can i look in here?”.

“Well, we should probably clear it out for your stuff so sure”, Puffy said and knelt down to join him. Dream opened the chest with a clink. Inside were random items from Puffys travels. Sea shells, empty bottles, jewls, clothes. But the item that seemed to catch Dreams eye was a silver rapier sword in the very bottom of the chest. He immediately reached for it and pulled it out. 

“Woah woah woah! Be careful, little duckling. That sword is dangerous”, Puffy said. 

Dream carefully glided his hand over the polished metal of the sword, careful not to cut himself on the blade. 

“Where’d you find this?”, he asked, his eyes not leaving the sword.

Puffy chuckled, “Why do you assume I found it?”.

Dream looks at her and then back at the sword. “You're a pirate”.

“Well, yes. But this was actually a gift from...a friend”, Puffy said, her words laced with nostalgia. Memories of sweet smelling pastries and shared laughter on a warm spring morning come flooding in. A beautiful girl holding out the sword wrapped in white cloth. The girl waving goodbye from a pier. An empty dark house with nothing but a note. 

“Can you teach me?”, Dream asks, pulling Puffy back to reality. 

“Um, I suppose so but let's start you off with a different type of sword.”

“Knees bent. Good. Don’t lean back so much. Good”, Dream and Puffy stand in a clearing in the pine forest. Fog surrounds them as the cool autumn air flows through their hair. Dream holds in stance with a wooden sword and Puffy circles him with the rapier in her belt and another wooden sword in her hand. 

“Alright, ready?”, she asks and takes her stance. Dream nods and rushes in, aiming to disarm her. He feels his sword bang against hers as he pushes to make her drop it. Then, a swoop of a hand and Dream lands on the dirt.

He scowls up at her and Puffy laughs. “You only ever focus on your goal. You have to take everything into account. How your opponent is moving, where your feet are, where the other person's sword is, where your own sword is. What’s behind you as well as what's in front of you”. 

“Yeah, okay..”, Dream mutters under his breath. Puffy smiles and reaches her hand out. He takes it and she pulls him up. 

They had been at this for hours. Every time Puffy would suggest going back, Dream would always ask for one more round. He ended every match with his butt on the ground and a hand in front of him. 

“Can we-”

“No”  
Dream stuck out his bottom lip. He looked up to see the fog turning an orange pinkish color as the sun set. 

“Can I watch you go?”

“What?”

Dream looked back at puffy and pointed to the rapier on her hip, “Can I watch you use that sword?”.

Puffy hesitated before nodding. Dream took a few steps back before sitting on the ground again, this time willingly. 

Puffy pulled the sword out in one swift motion, her soft pink hand fitting nicely under the hilt. She held the sword in front of her before stepping back and looking at her imaginary opponent. Puffy dashed forward and moved the rapier with grace, as if it was an extension of herself. She moved as if she was dancing with the wind. Dream watched in awe as she reenacted the moves of old duels. He found himself admiring the way she got lost in her own world. Then, before Dream knew it, the sword was placed back in her belt. 

“I think that’s enough for today”, Puffy said and pulled Dream off of the ground. 

“But pu~uffyyy~”, he whined. She chuckled, “Nope, no complaining. It’s almost time for dinner anyways”.

“Oh, come on”, Dream rolled his eyes. Puffy just shook her head. “Can we have applepie afterwards?”, Dream asked as they began to walk back up the path. 

“Well, we’re actually going to have dinner with friends”, Puffy said. 

“What?”, Dream stopped in his tracks. Puffy looked down at him, “My friend invited us to dinner. The one with the boy around your age?”. 

Dream looked down. He didn’t really want to meet someone new, let alone someone his own age. Why couldn’t he just stay with Puffy alone, like he had been for the past week? Everything felt normal as it was. This new normal Dream had been starting to get used to. Everything was under control that way. 

“Do I have to?”.

“Yes. I think you’ll get along”.

He was huge. Just as huge as when Dream had seen him last time. The demon must have been at least nine feet tall. Maybe more. 

“Good to see you again, Bad! This is Dream”, Puffy said, nudging Dream forward. He tried to avoid eye contact with the beast. Maybe that way he wouldn’t eat him alive.   
Puffy had given Dream no other option but to go. Apparently, this family lived in the nethers. There was a specific portal you had to use in order to not get blown up by a ghast. It led right into a giant fortress that Bad and his family had made into their home. 

“Hello there!”, Bad crouched down to speak to Dream better. His voice certainly did not match the way he looked. “You can call me Bad!”. Dream nodded but kept his gaze on the red wall behind him. 

“Bad! You’re scaring the poor kid!”, a voice came from behind the demon. Dream watched as this two foot tall man with diamonds growing out of him began to scold a nine foot tall nether demon.

“I’m so sorry, sometimes Bad doesn’t realize how scary he can be. My name is Skeppy”, the short man said with an apologetic smile. 

“Uh it’s okay”, Dream muttered. 

“Why don’t you go play with Sap? He’s down that hall”, Skeppy pointed down a hall to their left. 

Dream looked to Puffy for permission. She nodded, “We’ll call you for dinner”. He nodded and walked away from the group, down the hall. The hall opened up into a big room filled with pillows and cushions. In the center was an old rusty bathtub filled to the brim with bubbling lava. A dirty kid with shaggy black hair sat in the tub.

Dream stared at him. The kid stared back before Dream finally broke the silence.

“How can you do that?”, Dream asked.

“Part demon or something”, the kid said. He must have been a little younger than Dream. His face was dirty so the lava obviously wasn’t meant to clean him. 

“Are you Puffy’s son?”, the boy asked. 

“No, she’s just my caretaker”.

“Sounds like a mom to me”, the boy stood up and was luckily fully clothed. He climbed out of the tub, hot liquid magma dripping from his clothes. He stood in front of Dream with his chest puffed out, sizing him up. The boy was no taller than Dream’s nose. 

“Your face is kinda messed up”.

“I know”.

The boy inspected him for a minute before saying,“I’m Sapnap”.

“Dream.”

“Ya wanna go ride lava striders?”.

“Sure.”

“You said they were...melted?”, Skeppy asked in a hush voice. Puffy, Bad, and Skeppy were seated at the giant dining table. Five empty plates were left on the table after dinner. Sapnap and Dream said they were going to play tag before running off. The three of them drank coffee. 

“Yeah, like it was falling off the bone”, Puffy said, taking a sip of the warm liquid. 

“How morbid”, Bad commented. Skeppy rested his head on his hand. “But why not Dream?”.

Puffy shrugged, “I’m not sure. It wasn't that he was away from the wreck. He was practically in the center of it all. Yet the only harm he had was that gash on his face.”

“What could have caused something like that? A wither?”, Bad asked. Puffy shook her head. “We would’ve heard the wither. Plus, wither's don’t melt things”.

“Could it have been some radioactive chemical?”, Skeppy offered. 

Puffy sighed, “I have no idea”. Bad put his mug down, “Did you ask him”.

Puffy looked up, “He won’t tell me. But he’s just a kid, I’m not going to make him think about it anymore then he already does”. 

Bad and Skeppy shared a look. 

“What if that thing comes back and attacks the fishing town”, Skeppy says. “Puffy, I know you care about him but you’re going to have to figure out what happened”.

Puffy was slightly taken back. “Skeppy, he is a 10 year old child who I found bleeding in the middle of a wreckage with no other survivors! He can talk to me about this when he’s ready”. 

“Sorry sorry! I’m just saying…”

Guilt nipped at her. “No, I shouldn’t have raised my voice”, Puffy takes a sip of coffee. 

Bad smiles, “You're a good person Puffy. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

Puffy smiles back. She had Bad’s confirmation, but was she? Could whatever have happened to the ship come back and do the same to the town? It wasn’t like it was an 100 percent chance that it would happen, but Puffy didn’t know.

Was Dream’s sanity really worth the chance of the destruction of the town?


End file.
